Black and Blue
by jkmrsy
Summary: Another of my Quizilla stories-this one for Naruto himself. When Katoiya Umino was a baby, she was sent out of the Hidden Leaf for protection. Now, 13 years later she's returning home to take part in the Chunin Exams. Her life will be changed forever...
1. Chapter 1

**Name:** Katoiya Umino

**Age:** 13

**Personality:** Normally calm, Level-headed, Loves jokes, Naturally happy person, Hard working, Clever, Caring, Observative

**Abilities:** Katoiya has an Earth Chakra Nature and mixes it with water to use plants, though it quickly drains her of energy. She is good at recognizing and dispelling genjutsus. She is also very good with weapons and uses it as a powerful asset to her fighting style, making her a close range fighter. She can set traps so well that if she didn't leave her special 'mark' there, she wouldn't know where exactly it was. But her traps often also involve tricking the enemy, which she is very good at. Katoiya is also a skilled sword master, though she very rarely uses her sword.

**History:** At four months old a demon fox started attacking the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Katoiya was sent to live in the Hidden Grass Village at the time until her parents sent for her. The only problem was, they never sent for her.

Being only a baby, Katoiya had no idea what was going on and didn't really care for that matter. Her parents had died in the attack and her older brother was only twelve and busy grieving over their parents to think much about his sister. It was rough for him, so she wouldn't blame him if she understood any of it.

By the time he was over it he had all but forgotten her. He knew that she was his baby sister and wanted her back. But he was smart enough to know that she'd be taken away from him because he was too young to take care of an infant. So Katoiya grew up in the green hills of the Grass Village.

She didn't have a very happy life in permenance. She was always hopping from one foster family to another. Then, at six years old the foster mother she had at the moment said that enough was enough and adopted her.

Her new father, Raiden, could be a little harsh sometimes and often grounded her for her pranks. Sometimes her mother, Amaya, would get the girl out of it by saying that she was only a kid having her fun. Yumi, Katoiya's older sister was beautiful with her lavender hair and crimson eyes, but she was often too distant for the child to ever get close to her.

Then there was her favorite. Masahiko was the older brother that every girl wanted. He was slightly overprotective, but not overbearing. He gave Katoiya her space when she needed it or was her security blanket when she felt cold, scared, or alone.

Everyone always took the pair as polar opposites until they got to know them. Katoiya always had a sunny disposition, but Masahiko was a child of the moon. He had pitch black hair with eyes to match and a complexsion so pale he could've been dead. But he loved to laugh and always gave a smile. Her bond with him was deeper than any she had ever had before.

When she was ten, she was out in the village, walking home from the candy store with a brown, paper bag full of sweets. She heard screaming a few streets over and started to walk faster. Then out of nowhere there were two swords across her neck and a man behind her. Katoiya dropped the bag and candy scattered all over the ground.

Men were shouting that they believed the man they were looking for went down an alley to cut across the streets. Then said men rushed out of the alley to find the dire situation the girl was in. Masahiko was in the group and completely froze when he saw her-his little sister.

Katoiya locked her desperate and pleading eyes on his stone cold gaze for as long as she dared. And for that moment, the happy-go-lucky Masahiko she knew and loved died. In his place was a furious angel of the night with no intention of letting anything stop him from getting to his sister.

He ran forward and disappeared. The man behind her tensed and she closed your eyes and yelped in fear of what was to come. The swords dropped from her neck and rattled against each other as they hit the ground. She opened her eyes. When she turned her head she saw her brother holding his sword which he just impaled her captor with.

After the mess was cleaned up and the man's body was taken away, Masahiko crouched in front of his sister, smiled, and opened his fist to reveal a gumball to her. She smiled and took it from him.

After that day, he taught her how to use a sword and even custom made her one with a green snake wrapped around a black lotus carved into it. He told her the snake was for her hair and the lotus for her eyes. From that day on they would happily impale trees every day until Katoiya started at the academy in two years.

**Looks: **Katoiya has lightly tanned skin, waist length mossy green hair, and black eyes. She wears a sleeveless, cutoff shirt. The top quarter of it is tan and the rest of it and the collar is gray. She also wears black shorts and a half-skirt that goes around only her left side. The skirt is tan and has a gray lining on the side. She wears black gloves that go up to her mid-forearm and her shuriken holster is on her right leg where the shorts end. Her shinobi sandals are back and they are fishnet from her ankles to just under her knees where the boots end. Her headband is traditionally on her forehead.

* * *

><p>Katoiya stood there, tapping her foot as she waited for the rest of her team to show up. The only other person there was her sensei, and she wasn't the most interesting person on the planet. She was pretty and all and she was really skilled, but she just wasn't any fun.<p>

Her blonde hair fell from their ties down to her waist while her staff rested on the ground next to the tree she was leaning against. Then she lifted her head and opened her chocolate eyes.

"Relax Katoiya. They still have a half hour to get here. Kenji and Miako were never ones to be early," she said. Katoiya sighed and threw her hands up. "I might as well kill the plant life!" she said, annoyed at the boredom of the moment. She pulled her special sword out of its sheath and turned toward the bamboo forest.

"Don't get lost," her sensei warned her. "Relax Hanari Sensei," she said, repeating the woman. "I was never one to get lost easily." Then the green-haired girl turned to smile at her. She nodded, her eyes closed again and Katoiya ran in to the maze.

As she went, she let her sword move as if it was just another part of her body. That was how Masahiko had taught her. She smiled at the thought of it. The bamboo fell in the pattern of her dance, never touching her but always in sync.

Twenty five minutes later she heard the faint footfalls of the two boys on her team, rushing to either make it to the meeting in time or to outdo each other. She put the sword back in its sheath, hanging from the back of her waist and headed out of the forest, following her path of destruction. Not too long after that she heard the distinct arguing and annoyed sighs of her team. Somewhere in the back of her mind Katoiya wondered who'd really won the race.

As she made it back to the clearing the fighting stopped and she frowned. "What the hell took you two so long? I swear I'm going to slaughter the two of you next time!" she yelled, pulling out her sword for emphasis. The boys blinked and then the three young comrades burst out laughing.

Katoiya let her sword fall back into place as things quieted down. "So, sensei...what are we here for?" Kenji asked, his honey orange eyes curious. All three turned to their sensei who had finally come out of her hibornation. "Well, the three of you have shown enough skill in my eyes to be eligible for the Chunin Exams," she said.

Kenji cocked his head to the side. "_Okay_...What're the Chunin Exams exactly?" he asked.

Hanari straightened up to improve her already perfect posture. "You should know the rankings once you are a ninja go from gennin to chunin, chunin to jonin, and jonin to a bunch of special rankings. The Chunin Exams are a series of tests that are held in a single village twice a year. In this case we'll be going to the Village Hidden in the Leaves. The tests are never definite and the rules usually change with the procter. People are eliminated in each round until during the final test, the procters choose the people who they think would make the best chunin," she explained.

Miako snorted, ruffling his crimson hair in the process. His arms were folded tightly across his chest and his emrald eyes were locked on Hanari. "Ha! That's easy! Just pick A, B, C, or D not to mention eliminating the stupid answers leaves you with a fifty percent chance of passing! Piece of cake!" he laughed.

Hanari sighed. "Not exactly...You'll see when you get there. For now, just go back home and pack!" she said pointing in the direction they all came from. Katoiya shrugged and headed off on her way back home.

The boys could have been following her, but she didn't really care. It sounded like they were hopping in the branches behind her. Probably just wanted some of her mom's cooking again. She just ignored them, knowing that if her dad was home they would be too scared to invite themselves in.

When she got to her house the sounds stopped. Maybe it wasn't them. It was probably her imagination.

She walked in the front door and smiled at her mom who nodded back in return. Then, before she got the chance to ask about the team meeting, the green haired girl ran straight to the back room and started pounding on the door. She could hear her mother's laughing down the hall.

"Masahiko! Let me in!" she yelled. The door opened in the middle of her tirade and she fell forward into open arms. "What's up kiddo?" the smooth voice asked.

Katoiya glanced upward to look into her brother's midnight eyes. He smiled down at her and pulled her up and into his room. She immidiately started bouncing up and down. "I get to go to the Chunin Exams! I get to go to the Chunin Exams!" she squealed.

He laughed at his sister's enthusiasm and bounced off the walls with her. "Do I get to come?" he asked just as fervently as she was squealing. She stopped mid-bounce and blinked. "I don't know..." she said, rolling her weight to the left side. "I'll see what Hanari Sensei says later. I gotta go pack! You wanna help me?" she asked.

He smiled at her with his eyes squeezed shut. "Sure, why not?" he replied. The pair headed down the hall and walked into a room on the left side of it.

The floors were a very light wood panneling and the walls were a soft ivory. The right side of the back wall was completely window with a mint colored silk curtain pulled off to the side to reveal the garden-like clearing in the trees that led into the forest. On the left side of the room was a small one person bed draped with white sheets and a beige pillow with a swirling, minty pattern embroidered in the top right corner.

The right side of the room held another door, though this one was a sliding, paper door, with a design of green dragonflies over a sky blue pond. On the left side of that there was a mohogany bookcase with every shelf filled to capacity.

Masahiko walked to the foot of Katoiya's bed to grab her small ivory bag while she turned the other way to grab clothes from her closet. When she came back with an armfull of clothes, Masahiko pulled the black straps aside to open the bag which she promptly emptied the clothes into. When that was done she got on her stomach and reached under her bed for a small box in which she kept some of her extra weapons. Those went into the bag on top of the clothes.

She hadn't even noticed her brother's temporary departure until he came back carrying a bottle of food pills for the journey and tests. They were added to the load as well. Things went on like that in a happy silence for the next few minutes.

Katoiya let her parents know about the news and told them to pass it on to Yumi since she wasn't there. After she left the house with good luck wishes from her mother you set off to the meeting place again, whistling a happy tune.

When she got there Miako was waiting with their sensei and his own backpack. She ran up to see them with a hopeful smile on her face. "Hanari Sensei?" she asked, grabbing the woman's attention. She looked the way of her only female student. "Masahiko was hoping that he could tag along and watch where he was welcome," Katoiya explained. "It doesn't bother me," Hanari said indifferently. Katoiya jumped in the air, pulling her fist down in triumph. "Yes!" she hissed to herself.

Just then one of the village's messenger birds flew overhead. She whistled for it to come to her and it swooped down to land on her waiting forearm. She wrote up a message for Masahiko to let him know to pack and get there before the team left. It flew off in the direction of her house to give her brother the news of the depature.

Within two minutes Kenji arrived with his things and Masahiko ran up with his bag over his shoulder and sword on his hip another five after that. "Let's get going!" Kenji shouted, pumping his fist in the air. "Yeah!" Katoiya and Masahiko laughed.

Masahiko slung his sister onto his back as the five of them set out. And with that, Katoiya was unknowingly on her way to the most important part of her life...


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The only characters I own are Katoiya, Masahiko, Kenji, Miako, and Hanari. All others belong to our beloved Mesashi Kishimoto.

* * *

><p>After being approved at the village gates, Hanari Sensei left the group to explore the Leaf. Masahiko led them around, seeing as he had been there before. He had had quite a few missions there in the past. Miako, who was usually smiling, had his mouth set in a firm line.<p>

"What's wrong Miako?" Katoiya asked.

"Nothing," he stated, turning to her slightly as they walked. "I just don't like this place." Kenji snorted. "Right...That's totally it," he said.

"Guys," Masahiko said, grabbing their attention. "These tests are going to be tough. Trust me, these aren't like the academy days. They are dangerous. I lost one of my team mates when I went through them," he said seriously.

Katoiya was shocked. He had never told her this before. "Masahiko?" she questioned. He sighed.

"You remember Taaru, right?" he asked, referring to an old team mate of his.

The girl nodded. "I only told you that he had moved because you were a child," the elder sibling said. The three genin remained quiet. Then Masahiko clapped Katoiya over the shoulder. "But hey! Let's not dwell on the past, huh? How about something to eat?" he smiled.

"I'm up for it!" Kenji announced.

"Where are we going?" Miako asked, now thoroughly enthused.

"How's ramen sound?" Masahiko asked, smirking at Katoiya.

Her eyes got huge. Ramen was her absolute favorite! She took in a deep breath, and then ran off in a random direction. She heard the others yelling after her. True, she had no idea where the local ramen stand was, but when it came to ramen she didn't think much about anything else. It wasn't long before she lost her team.

The girl rounded a corner and ran right into someone's back. They stumbled forward and she fell on her butt. As she got up and rubbed her tailbone, the other person clenched their teeth. The boy whipped himself around and glared at her.

"Look! I just had _this _brat run into me and now you!" he said, pointing to a kid behind him.

There was also a blonde boy and a pink haired girl with the kid, and the boy she ran into had a blonde girl with him.

"Kankuro, I told you we don't need to deal with this..." the girl said.

"I don't care Temari! These brats are getting on my last nerve!" he said.

Then he turned back to Katoiya and took a bundle off of his back. No way was this dude going to attack her. "Get ready for a puppet show..." he said.

Yup, he was going to attack her. She snarled at him and pulled out her sword, holding it in front of her. The blonde boy started running her way.

"Dude, leave her alone! She only ran into you by accident!" he yelled. The boy named Kankuro twitched his fingers and the other boy tripped.

Then a rock flew from the trees, hitting Kankuro's hand. He dropped the bundle to the ground and everyone looked up to where the rock had come from. There was a pale boy with raven hair and dark eyes sitting on a branch and tossing another rock.

"What are you doing in our village?" he asked.

"Sasuke!" the pink haired girl squealed.

The blonde looked at him with discontent and Katoiya regarded him solemnly. Not completely unfortunate looking, pretty smooth, but he seemed full of himself. She couldn't tell if he would actually be a worthy opponent. After all, he only threw a rock.

"Another kid to piss me off," Kankuro said, still holding his hand.

"Get lost," the boy in the tree said.

"Hey kid, get down here," Kankuro said. "It's show-offs like you I hate the most." He bent down for his puppet again.

"Are you actually going to use Crow?" the girl with him said.

"Kankuro, stop," another voice said from the trees.

There was another boy there now. He was standing on the underside of one of the branches. He was also pale and had crimson hair and empty aquamarine eyes. There were completely black circles around them and the kanji for love was tattooed on his forehead. On his back was a gourd.

"You're an embarrasment to our village," he said.

Unlike the other boy, this one struck fear into Katoiya's very soul. There was just something about him that wasn't right. He reeked of killing intent and the air around him seemed to quiver at his presance.

"Ga...Gaara," Kankuro said, clearly also terrified by his team mate.

"Losing control of yourself in a fight, how pathetic...Why do you think we came to the Leaf Village?" the new boy said.

"Listen Gaara, they started it and..." Kankuro said, pointing at her and the other group.

"Shut up...I'll kill you..." Gaara said.

She had a strange feeling that he meant it with every fiber of his being. If he wasn't so stoic she would even go so far as to say that he was excited about it.

Kankuro was sweating. He swallowed. "Okay, I'm sorry..." he said. "I'm also sorry..." the girl said. "Really sorry..."

"I apologize for them," Gaara said to the other boy in the tree. Then, in a swirl of sand he was gone. He reappeared in the middle of his two team mates, which was very close to Katoiya. She didn't show it, but it made her very uncomfortable.

He straightened up. "It looks like we got here too early, but we didn't come here to play around," he said.

"I know that..." Kankuro said.

"Let's go," Gaara said to them.

"Hey wait!" the pinkette said.

"What?" Gaara asked calmly.

"Judging from your headbands you guys are ninja from the Hidden Sand Village, right?" the girl said. "And you're from the Hidden Grass?" she asked, pointing to the Grass ninja. "You may be allies with the Leaf Village, but it is forbidden for shinobi to enter each other's villages without permission. State your purpose. Depending on it, we may not be able to let you go," she said.

Katoiya blinked. This girl was a member of the village where the Chunin Exams were being held and she didn't even know they were going on? Was she really that stupid? Katoiya held back a smile.

"Talk about clueless..." the girl with the fan said. "Don't you know anything?"

Katoiya pulled out her pass and held it up. "See this pass?" she said. "We have permission."

The other girl looked at her and then back to the Leaf girl. "She's right. We are genin from other villages, but we have come to your village to take the Chunin Selection Exam," she said.

"Chunin Selection Exam?" the blonde boy asked.

Wow...Katoiya dumbfounded. Was this entire team that dense?

"Geeze...you really don't know anything..." the girl from the Sand said. "The Chunin Exam is where outstanding genin from the Sand, Leaf, and other neighboring villages assemble to take an exam to become a chunin..." she said.

"But why do we take it together?" the blonde boy yelled.

"The main purpose is said to be to improve relationships between the allies and to raise the shinobi level, but also each country likes to maintain a power balance and..."

"Hey, Konohamaru! Think I should enter this Chunin Exam thing?" the blonde boy said, interrupting.

"You bastard!" the Sand girl said, making a fist. "You asked the question, listen till the end!"

Then the raven haired boy appeared in front of his team. "Hey you, what's your name?" he asked.

"Huh? You mean me?" the girl asked.

"No. You with the gourd," he said.

"Gaara of the Desert..." the other replied. "I'm also interested in you, your name?" he asked.

"It's Sasuke Uchiha," the raven said, smirking.

"Hey! What about me? Huh?" the blonde asked, smiling.

Gaara turned back to his team. "Not interested...Let's go," he said. The three disappeared.

Katoiya finally resheathed her sword. These three weren't necessarily a problem and she wouldn't need it anyway. The blonde and the raven started fighting and she just stood and watched. For team mates they didn't work together very well. At least Kenji, Miako, and herself could have a good time and were coordinated.

Just then, Miako ran around the corner. It was about to be the same situation she just had with Kankuro, but as she had just thought, they _were_ coodinated.

His eyes widened for a fraction of a second before, instead of trying to stop, he jumped into a side spin. Katoiya bent backwards into a 90 degree angle just as he went over top of her. She went back up and spun around just in time to see him land. Everything was silent. She glanced around him to see the other team and the kids staring at the two of them.

"What?" she said. Miako turned around to look at them.

"How did you do that?" the kid with the scarf asked.

"Simple, we've been doing it for years!" the green haired girl said.

Miako turned back to her. Now he looked annoyed. "Really Katoiya, the word 'ramen' and you're gone. Do you even know where you're going?" he asked sternly.

She yanked her sword out again and held the tip to his throat. "Don't give me lip like that! And ramen is very important!" she said.

The others had gone silent in shock again. Miako glanced down at the blade. Then he burst out laughing. She started too and put the sword back. "But seriously," she said. "Ramen is important."

"Yeah, yeah..." Miako said. He touched his hand to a radio on his neck that Masahiko had probably given him. "Guys, I found her. She's about three hundred meters due east of the starting point," he said.

_"Got it..."_ Katoiya heard her brother's voice through the speaker.

"So..." he said, turing back to the other team. "Who're you guys?"

The blonde immidately jumped at the chance to make himself known. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki!" he said enthuziastically.

"And I'm Sakura Haruno," the pinkette said.

"Sasuke Uchiha," the raven reintroduced himself.

"I'm Miako Soregana. Sorry about my team mate." She waved. "Her older brother suggested ramen and she kind of ran off...We're thinking about getting her a leash," he teased.

"Oh very funny," Katoiya said. "By the way, my name's Katoiya Umino," she said.

The three looked at her. Then they seemed to just ignore what had caught their attention. Weird. She seriously hoped that the whole Leaf Village wouldn't be like this.

"So anyway," she said. "Can you guys tell us where the local ramen stand is?"

"Sure!" Naruto said. "You'll love Ichiraku's! They're the best!"

"Naruto, you can't!" Sakura said. "We have a meeting with Kakashi sensei."

"Oh, come on Sakura! He's always late anyway!" Naruto complained.

"And if he's not late today?" Sasuke asked.

"That's okay. I think I can take it from here," Masahiko said from atop the wall lining the street.

The others all jumped. Sakura stared at him and then to Sasuke and back to him. Katoiya giggled to herself. she wasn't going to lie, Masahiko was probably the most handsome guy in the entire Grass Village. Sakura probably hadn't been exposed to anything like him in her life.

"Finally!" Kenji said, walking around the corner. "You do realize Katoiya that in running off so eagerly to get to the ramen stand that you made it just that much longer until we get to eat?" he said.

"Whatever," she said, smiling. "Maybe some other time then?" she offered to the others.

"Yeah, sure!" Naruto said. Sakura rolled her eyes at him and Sasuke said nothing, looking annoyed.

"Come on guys, this way," Masahiko said, jumping from the wall and going back around the corner. Katoiya and the rest of her team followed him.

"So, what do you think of the Leaf ninja?" Kenji asked.

"Well..." she said. "If they're all like those three, then they shouldn't be too tough to beat."

"Awesome!" Miako said. "See, I told Hanari sensei that we had this in the bag."

"But those Sand ninja that you didn't see," she continued. "They actually looked like they knew what they were doing. The shortest one was actually terrifying..." They looked at her, expecting more. "He just had this killing intent and he actually seriously threatened to kill one of his team mates. He has a lot of skill as far as I can tell, and I barely saw anything. But still, it'll be best if we stay away from him," she said, shivering.

"Well, well. If it isn't Masahiko Torezuki," someone said, snapping them from the convorsation.

A white haired man with a mask over his face walked up.

"Kakashi!" Katoiya's brother said, going to shake the man's hand. "It's been too long!"

"Masahiko, you know him?" she asked.

"You know I've had missions in the Leaf before Katoiya. I've been paired with Kakashi many times. He's a good friend of mine," he explained.

"So this is the adopted sister you told me about," Kakashi said, looking at her.

"Yeah, that's me," she said feeling like a child before the experienced man.

"Does she know it all?" he asked her brother.

"Oh yeah. She knows that she's originally from the Leaf, but seeing as she was raised in the Grass for practically her whole life I don't think she thinks about it too much," Masahiko said.

"Hello," Katoiya said. "I actually do have a voice."

Kakashi laughed. "I'm sorry, so do you know what family you came from?" he asked.

"Yeah, but my parents died when the fox attacked. That's probably why I stayed in the Grass," she explained. "I kept the name though. I'm Katoiya Umino."

Kakashi straightened up. "You don't say?" he asked.

"You know someone?" the girl asked.

This was new. If he knew somebody that was related to her that was still alive...

"I might," he said. "Tell you what. I'll have him show up to the second exam if you all make it. He'll want to meet you."

"Kakashi, I hate to say this but don't you have some students waiting on you?" Masahiko said.

"How did you know?" Kakashi asked.

"We ran into them on the way to the ramen stand. The girl said something about you," Kenji said. "If I were you I'd show up early to throw off the blonde boy," Miako said. "He was actually going to show us to the stand and show up late because he said that you would be."

Kakashi laughed again. "You know, I would, but I'm already late as it is," he said. "I'm actually going to give them the papers to enroll into the exam. Maybe you'll have someone to fight."

"Maybe they will...Good seeing you again Kakashi," Masahiko said. Then the man disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Well, today was very interesting. Katoiya had so much on her mind about the exams and this possible relative that she almost forgot about the ramen. That is, until she smelled it coming out of the stand nearby.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The only characters I own are Katoiya, Masahiko, Kenji, Miako, and Hanari. All others belong to our beloved Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

><p>This was it. Today was finally the day that Katoiya and her team were going to enter the Chunin Exams!<p>

She got up with the sun, seeing as she was too excited to sleep in today. She quietly got dressed and snuck past Hanari, who was still asleep, and out into the main room of their hotel suite. Kenji and Miako seemed to still be sleeping as well. She snuck over to the fully stocked kitchen and began preparing eggs and bacon for herself.

"Hm, that smells good. Mind if I have some?" a quiet voice said from behind her as hands rested on her shoulders.

Katoiya jumped, sending the omlette on the spatula flying over her shoulder. As she turned to assess the damage she saw that Masahiko had already caught it on a plate and was turning away smiling.

"You know, I would have accepted a simple yes. You didn't have to throw it at me," he smirked as he grabbed a fork and took a bite.

"Hey! That's mine!" she said.

"Your bacon's burning," he replied smoothly.

She quickly turned off the stove and put the strips on another plate. Then she hurried after her brother. "Come on Masahiko!" she whined. "I need food! I'm nervous!"

"Are you now?" he said after taking another bite. "Last I remembered you were so excited that you were literally bouncing off the walls. Or don't you think you're good enough to make it?"

What? How could he say that? She would totally make it, but that didn't mean that she couldn't be nervous! "What do you mean? I'm totally awesome; especially with a sword thanks to you! I'll get through this easily! Now give me what's left of my omlette," she said, trying to snatch the plate.

He swiftly moved it away. Then he smiled. "That's my girl," he said. "And you didn't even let me distract you. That's good."

"Thanks," Katoiya smiled. "And, my eggs?"

He chuckled. "Here," he said, giving the plate back to her with half an omlette left. She glowered at him and snatched the fork from his hand. Then she dug in. Masahiko got up and grabbed a few more eggs to make for himself.

Katoiya had to admit, it wasn't such a bad thing that he stole it. She didn't even finish her bacon. He ended up eating the rest of that too. That's about when the boys came out.

"Hey, what's up?" Kenji said around a yawn.

"Nothing much," Katoiya said. "We've still got a few hours until the exams start. So after you guys eat do you want to train?" she asked.

"Of course!" Miako said. "I've been training in my sleep!"

They laughed. As soon as the boys had eaten their breakfast they went to gather their things. Katoiya tiptoed into her room to grab her weapons and noticed that the other bed was empty. That was strange. Hanari sensei hadn't even come out of the room since Katoiya had.

She quickly grabbed her weapons pouch and shuriken holster and put them on. She walked out of the room to find the boys talking with her brother. "Has anyone seen Hanari sensei?" she asked. "She's not in our room."

"No," Kenji said.

"How could she just disappear?" Miako added.

"Don't worry about her," Masahiko said. "The senseis need to meet in the morning before the exams anyway. She probably just used the window."

"Okay, if you say so," Miako said.

"Come on guys, let's go. We need to get in as much training as possible. And don't forget our applications," Kenji said.

"Yeah, okay," Katoiya said. She already had hers safely put away with her weapons. The three headed out the door, enthusiastically saying goodbye to the older chunin and running down the hall to leave.

After some asking around they found their way to one of the local training grounds and got down to work. Kenji, being the more meditative of the group jumped atop the middle of three stumps that were in the area and sat down. He usually meditated and other things of the sort before the physical bit of training.

In the meantime, Katoiya and Miako squared off to work on their hand to hand combat. Katoiya drew her sword. Miako returned by pulling out one of his special kunai. His kunai had a range of uses from bursting upon impact with the ground to draining chakra from opponents. Only he could tell which was which, making him a dangerous opponent with weapons. They launched themselves at each other.

Minutes later they both hit the ground, temporarily paralyzed. Kenji had finally joined the battle and took advantage of his team mates' distraction by sending some of his specially coated senbon needles.

Kenji liked to work with plants and the stealth aspect of ninja. These senbon were coated with a very light poison that paralyzed the recipient for about a minute. They were mainly for medical purposes to keep his patients still. Yes, Kenji was also a medic; a basic one at least.

He jumped from the trees and removed the needles from the others' necks. "You two really need to work on observing your surroundings when you're fighting," he said.

They sat up, rubbing their necks. "That was a cheap shot Kenji," Miako said.

"It was an open shot Miako, and I took it. If you two were my enemies I wouldn't hesitate to take a shot like that," he replied, helping his comrades to their feet.

Katoiya wobbled and walked in a few circles to get used to her limbs again. Once she was, she resheathed her sword and walked back to the other two. They were arguing over Kenji's morality. It was ironic since Miako was usually on the other end of this argument.

"Guys, guys! Come on, we need to train. I'm pretty sure that we're not being tested on our debating skills," she said.

"Fine," Miako said reluctantly.

They got back to their training, each focusing on their most powerful tactics first and then moving on to the areas they needed work on. They were feeling on top of their game by the time they had to leave.

The group made its way back into town and stopped at a dango shop before heading to the exam building. Kenji led the way up the stairs followed by Miako and Katoiya. They had gotten there a little early, so there was no one else in the halls as they made their way to room 301. There were two boys standing outside the room when they got there.

"Hey, planning on taking the Chunin Exams huh?" the one on the left said.

"Yeah, what's it to you?" Miako said around the skewer left in his mouth from the dango.

"First you gotta take the preliminaries," the spikey haired boy on the right said.

"Preliminaries?" Kenji asked. "There was nothing mentioned about preliminaries."

"This is the unofficial preliminaries," the first one said. "We're just weeding out those of you that are unfit to become chunin."

Katoiya couldn't believe it. Did these boys think they were that stupid? She saw through their trick the second that the trio had entered the hallway. She had only stayed to see what they would do. Seeing that they had nothing particularly interesting to say, she turned on her heel and continued down the hallway.

"Katoiya?" Kenji asked, still holding his hand in front of Miako as a precaution.

"Come on guys. We've got nothing to do here," she said.

Miako stepped back, still scowling and Kenji smiled lazily as he turned to follow her.

"And where are you going?" the spikey haired boy asked.

"Your genjutsu's pathetic," Katoiya said, not bothering to turn. "We're going up a floor to the real room 301."

Miako ran to catch up to the others. As they turned a corner to the next stairwell Katoiya noticed the two boys smirking at them. Whoever they were, they were obviously working for the proctors of the exams.

Down the next hall they found the exam room. They entered to find that there was actually a rather large group of people. In an attempt to avoid making a scene the three walked into a corner of the room and sat down.

A few minutes later three more people walked in. Katoiya looked up. It was Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Apparently Kakashi had gotten them to enroll after all.

"Sasuke! You're late!" a blonde girl squealed, jumping on his back. "I haven't seen you for a while," she cooed.

He just looked annoyed. And who could blame him?

"Get away from Sasuke! Ino-pig!" Sakura yelled.

"Why if it isn't Sakura..." the blonde girl said. "Big ugly forehead as always..."

"What did you say?" Sakura shrieked.

"You guys are taking this stupid test too?" a tired voice said, causing Katoiya to look over to a bored looking boy wearing a fishnet shirt with his hair pulled up, and a chubby boy eating chips whose headband looked like he pulled on underwear over his head. "What a drag," the thinner of the two sighed.

"Sasuke is mine!" the blonde girl said, giving Sakura a stink eye.

"Yahoo!" another voice yelled. "Found you!" This time a wild boy in a parka with red marks on his face walked up with a puppy on his head. With him was a boy with bushy hair who was wearing dark glasses and a shirt that covered most of his face, and a girl with pupil-less lavender eyes who was wearing a coat. The girl seemed very shy and dependant on her team mates. "H...Hello..." she whispered.

"Well well, everyone is assembled," the wild boy said.

"Geeze...You guys too?" the bored skinny boy said.

"I see..." the wild boy said. "All rookie nine are taking the exam. I wonder how far we'll get. Eh, Saskue?"

"Pft," Sasuke smirked. "You seem confident, Kiba."

"We did a lot of training. We won't lose to you," Kiba said.

"Shut up!" Naruto yelled out, pointing at Kiba. "Sasuke might, but I won't lose to the likes of you!"

Katoiya rolled her eyes and she heard Miako snicker under his breath. Thankfully, all of the yelling covered it up. If they got attention turned to them it wouldn't do them much good. It was better for them to stay in the background and observe what they were up against.

So far, even though she thought Naruto was a nice guy and Sasuke was a jerk, she also sized up Sasuke to be a worthy opponent and Naruto...Well he really didn't seem like he would be too difficult to defeat.

"Sorry, Naruto...Kiba didn't mean it that way," the shy girl said.

Naruto turned to her confused. He really was dense.

Kenji tapped Katoiya and pointed past the group of Leaf genin. There was an older teen walking toward them. He was wearing glasses and he had his white hair pulled back into a ponytail. His headband indicated that he was also from the Hidden Leaf Village.

"Hey you guys, you should be more quiet," he said, walking up to the nine kids. "You guys are rookies just out of the academy right? Screaming like school girls. Geeze...This isn't a picnic," he said.

"Who do you think you are?" the annoying blonde girl asked.

"I'm Kabuto," the newcomer introduced himself. "But instead of that, look behind you."

The rookies turned around to find the entire rest of the room staring at them. There were a couple of teams in particular that were looking at them that seemed to be really pissed off. This was exactly why Katoiya knew it was better to keep it quiet and just observe. It was even better that they were in one of the most unassuming areas of the room.

"Those guys behind you are from the Hidden Rain. They have short tempers," Kabuto said. "Everyone is nervous about the exam, quiet down before you cause a scene. Well, I can't blame you. You're clueless rookies. You remind me of how I used to be."

"Kabuto, right?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," he said.

"So this is your second time?" she asked.

"No, this is my seventh time," he said.

Katoiya blanched. She looked over to her team mates. They didn't seem to be doing much better. This guy had taken this test six times and failed every one of them. Maybe this wouldn't be as easy as she had convinced herself of. Masahiko even said that Taaru had died taking the exams. She swallowed and turned her attention back to the conversation.

Kabuto had taken out a deck of cards. Listening to his explaination, she learned that they were ninja info cards that he inscribed with chakra so that they could only be read with his chakra signature. They had maps and charts and people. Hopefully there wouldn't be any info on them.

Sasuke wanted info on Rock Lee of the Leaf and Gaara of the Sand. Katoiya shivered thinking of the bloodlust surrounding the Sand genin. When she heard that he had returned from every one of his missions without a single scratch, it made him all the scarier. Even Naruto, who was so confident, was shaking now.

Sakura patted him on the back. "Hey Naruto, don't get so down," she said.

Then, all of a sudden Naruto jumped up and pointed out at the rest of the genin. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm not losing to any of you! You got that!" he yelled.

The room went silent. Everyone was glaring at Naruto, including Miako. Katoiya and Kenji would be too, but they were both too calm for that. Not to mention the green haired girl's curiosity.

Sakura was choking Naruto out and apologizing for his stupidity when a few ninja with music notes on their headbands jumped out. One of them threw some kunai toward Kabuto who dodged.

Another one of them appeared right in front of him. The unnamed ninja took a swipe, which Kabuto also dodged with quick reflexes. However, his glasses broke. That was strange...He wasn't even hit. Then he doubled over and vomited. What just happened?

"How pathetic," the one that threw the punch said. "Especially because, aren't you a four year veteran?"

"Write this down on your cards," the other boy said. "The three Hidden Sound ninja, definite future chunin."

"Quiet down you worthless brats!" a deep, gravelly voice yelled as smoke started to fill the room.

When the smoke cleared a group of ninja from the Leaf were standing there. In the front of the group was a rather intimidating man with a few scars on his face wearing a trenchcoat and his headband on a dewrag. He smirked, but it definitely wasn't the friendly kind.

"Thanks for waiting. I am Ibiki Morino, the examiner for the Chunin Selection Exam's first test," he said.

He pointed to the group of genin that were around the tables in the room. "Hidden Sound ninja, stop doing as you please before the exam," he said. "Do you want to fail already?"

"I apologize," said the Sound ninja with the fur on his back, "This is our first time. We got a little carried away..."

"Here's a good opportunity to say this," the man said. "There will be no fighting without the permission of the examiner. Even if permission is granted, killing your opponent will not be tolerated. Those that disobey me will be failed immediately. Do I make myself clear?"

Katoiya had the urge to snap to attention and answer him though he clearly didn't demand it. She and her team mates stayed crouched in the corner. Kenji, who was normally calm was actually paling.

Miako's expression was a mix of fear and confident determination if that was possible. He enjoyed his fighting. Hopefully he wouldn't do anything stupid to get into one. He shifted to get up, but Katoiya held up her hand to stop him. He stopped and the three continued to listen.

"We will now start the first test in the Chunin Exam," Ibiki said. "Instead of your current seating arrangements you will pick one of these tabs and sit in the seat assigned to you," he continued, holding up small squares with numbers on them. "We will then hand out the exams."

"What?" Naruto yelled, making Katoiya jump. "A paper test?"

Apparently that wasn't what he was expecting, and by the sound of it he wasn't prepared. She wasn't expecting it either and her team looked as surprised as she did. None of them had thought to study anything. They had all thought it would be a test of skill rather than knowledge.

As the other genin started lining up, the group stood and found their places in line. When it came to them, Kenji took his number first. Then Katoiya, followed by Miako.

She was in seat 14. Miako had 12 and Kenji was sitting in seat 48. They each made their ways to the numbered seats and sat down. Between Katoiya and Miako was a Stone ninja. He looked pretty pissed. She had no idea why, but she was going to stay away from him.

Then the exams were placed in front of them, face down. Once everyone was seated and had their exams Ibiki spoke over the crowd.

"Do not turn your tests over," he said. "Listen closely to what I'm about to say. There are many important rules to this first test. I'll write it on the board while I explain, but questions will not be allowed so listen carefully."

He began writing on the board as he explained each of the rules in turn. "The first rule. You will all start off with ten points. The test is made up of ten questions and each one is worth a point. But, this test uses a subtraction system. Basically, if you answer all the questions correctly, you keep your ten points. But say if you miss three questions...you lose three points and will have seven."

Answer the questions and do it correctly. That seemed simple enough.

"The second rule," Ibiki continued. "This is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your team mates. So, each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to to form the initial team total of thirty."

"Wait a second!" Sakura said, raising her hand into the air. "I don't understand this initial points system either, but why is it a team test?"

"Shut up," Ibiki said. "You don't have the right to question me. There is a reason for this. Be quiet and listen."

Miako glared over at Sakura. If Katoiya could read minds she knew he would be thinking something about how the proctor had clearly stated that nobody was to ask any questions. And he was right. He said no questions and she blatently disobeyed him. What an idiot.

"Okay," Ibiki said, snapping Katoiya from her thoughts. "And now the most important rule. The third rule is that during the exam...Anyone caught by the proctors cheating will have two points subtracted for every offense. If anyone is caught cheating five times they will lose all of their points and be dismissed."

"We'll have our eyes on you guys," one of the men sitting around the room said.

"Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As shinobi trying to achieve the level of chunin, be proud ninja," Ibiki said.

"And the final rule. Those that lose all of their initial points during the test and those that don't answer any questions correctly will be failed along with their two team mates. You will not be allowed to ever return."

A feeling of shock and terror went through the room. Some teams were looking around nervously. They obviously had some team mates that weren't all that bright.

Katoiya noticed that Sasuke and Sakura were glaring in Naruto's direction. Apparently her initial impression of him was right.

She shot a sharp look at Miako, who was looking at Kenji and getting one from him as well. Even though Miako wasn't stupid, he had this tendency to look for help to avoid anything less that perfection. He didn't like to seem anyting less. He set his mouth in a firm line and he nodded.

"The exam will last one hour," Ibiki said. "Begin!"


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The only characters I own are Katoiya, Masahiko, Kenji, Miako, and Hanari. All others belong to our beloved Masashi Kishimoto.

* * *

><p>The clock was ticking. Katoiya and her team were staring at the tests that they were given.<p>

The questions were difficult. Katoiya looked to the first one, a cryptogram that she had to decipher. Great, she sucked at cryptograms and codes. Kenji was probably on the next question by now. He was always skilled in espionage. She would just move on to the next one then.

There was a diagram with this question. She read it. 'Line B in the diagram indicates the trajectory of a shuriken thrown at enemy C by ninja A seated atop a tree seven meters tall. Describe and formulate the trajectory required if C were positioned at points D, E, and F. Also predict the farthest possible range of the shuriken and explain how you arrived at your answer.' Okay, so that one was even harder than the cryptogram.

Then Katoiya had a thought that made her straighten up in her seat. She read down all of the questions and paled. Each of them got harder as she read down the sheet.

She took a cursory glance around and noticed that most of these kids looked entirely confused. This wasn't going to be good. She had to get something right or her whole team would fail.

But, she knew plenty of chunin that weren't geniuses. There had to be a trick to this. She thought over the rules. They made it so clear that no cheating was to be allowed, but the questions were so diffucult that cheating was almost necessary to pass. And then the fact that the punishment for cheating was so minor when in the academy cheating once was grounds for failure.

She thought back to what Ibiki had said. "Realize that the pathetic ones that get caught cheating will be destroying themselves. As shinobi trying to achieve the level of chunin, be proud ninja."

That was it! He didn't say those that _were _cheating would be dismissed. He said that those that _got caught_ cheating would be! This wasn't a test of how smart they were, but how well they could gather information without being caught. She needed to pass the message on.

Acting like she was busy concentrating on her test, she started tapping her pencil and occasionally clicking her tongue. She sent out a message in morse code. 'Kenji, we're supposed to cheat! Wait twenty minutes for people to get answers and then create a distraction. I'll get the answers and get them to you and Miako somehow.'

"You, in seat fourteen!" one of the proctors said, making Katoiya jump. "Stop tapping your pencil and making noise! It distracts the other participants!"

"Yes, sorry," the girl said.

She heard a pencil drop from Kenji's direction; his signal that he had gotten the message.

As time went by it seemed more and more genin had figured it out. She noticed a few things that some of the others were doing and that probably ment that they were getting caught by the proctors.

Then, all of a sudden a kunai flew through the air to thunk into one of the tables and a kid's exam. The room went silent; even more so than it was before if that was possible.

He stood up. "W-what was that for?" he asked.

"Five strikes and you're out," the proctor who threw the kunai said. "You just failed the test."

"What?" the boy said. "It can't be!"

The proctor pointed at him. "You and your team mates will leave the room immedately," he said. The other two got up stoicly and walked past, glaring at their comrade. "Candidate number 23, fail. Numbers 27 and 43, fail," the proctor continued.

Seeing as the boy had yet to move, two other proctors took him by the arms and drug him out of the room, yelling and screaming. "It's not fair! I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!" he yelled on his way out. The doors were shut as the boy and his team were dismissed.

More time passed, and with it went more and more candidates. Soon at least thirteen teams were gone. As more went the ones that were going to pass were coming out.

That Kankuro kid raised his hand to use the bathroom and was hadcuffed and led out. Katoiya chuckled to herself. If only the proctors knew that he was a puppet master. She had found it out the day her team got to the Leaf Village, and now the 'proctor' leading him away was probably a puppet himself. Clever...

There was only twenty minutes left, and twenty minutes had passed since Katoiya sent out her message. Kenji would be putting their plan into action any moment now...

That's about when a hissing made itself known throughout the room. Everyone stopped writing and sat up, looking around. Even the proctors were confused. Then steam started to become visible. A few seconds later one of the pipes burst. The room rapidly became congested with gaseous water and the temperature rose dramatically. Katoiya couldn't even see her exam anymore. This was it. Kids started yelling and some people even started coughing.

"Somebody locate that leak!" Ibiki yelled.

Proctors started running around, trying to find the pipe. She didn't know how he did it, but Kenji would have picked a pipe to mess with that would take a while to locate and would have ruptured it in a way that would not be found as sabatoge.

Katoiya silently got up and made her way around the room. She was keeping low not only to avoid detection, but to actually see the tests that the candidates themselves couldn't see. She had memorized where the Hyugas and the Uchiha were sitting and avoided those spots now due to their ocualr jutsu. They would see her coming a mile away.

When she found a test with all of the answers written down, she took a minute to turn it around and memorize the answers before putting it back in place. Then she made her way to Kenji's seat and grabbed his exam.

She dug into her weapons pouch and pulled out a vial of lemon juice with a small brush. She unscrewed the cap and started writing the answers down on her comrade's paper. When she was done with that she told him to keep it cool with one of his wind style jutsus and moved on to Miako. She did the same for him and then bent over the table to rest her face next to his.

"Offer to help them patch the leak when they find it. It could work to divert some suspicion," she whispered. Then she stealthily made her way back to her seat and sat down. She started copying answers.

"I found it!" one of the proctors yelled.

"Anybody got a patch?" another asked.

"I've got some extra bandages!" Miako yelled.

It sounded as if one of the proctors made their way over to him and helped him up. Then the two walked over to the leak.

"All right kid, do your stuff," the proctor said.

Some bandages were ripped and the hissing stopped.

"Somebody open a window for crying out loud!" Ibiki yelled.

A few windows were slid open and the steam started to dissipate. Katoiya had stopped writing and waited for the mist to clear. When the room was clear again she glanced at Miako's exam and noticed that it was now blank. Perfect! It had gotten cool enough for the lemon juice to dry, and now when they breathed on it the heat would make the answers show up. Then all they would have to do would be to copy the answer.

"I apologize for that," Ibiki said. "We'll need to talk with the maitenence workers around here. Get back to your tests; the time that passed will not have been counted."

Katoiya smirked to herself and continued writing down her answers. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Miako lean closer to his test. At least he got it. The boys and Katoiya got down to writing their answers and the next five minutes passed in silence. Then Ibiki spoke up.

"Alright! Listen up!" he said. "Here's the tenth and final question! But, before I give you the question there are some more rules that you need to be aware of."

Great, more rules. What was so special about this tenth question that it needed its own special set of rules?

The door opened then and Kankuro stepped in. "Ah, made it just in time," Ibiki said. "I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlightening. Well, take your seat."

Kankuro did as he was told and made his way up th isle before sitting down. Ibiki took a step forward before speaking again.

"These rules are unique to question ten. Listen carefully, and try not to let them frighten you."

Katoiya gulped. Even if this guy was full of himself, there was something about him that was entirely serious. And that made him scary. Somewhere in the back of her head she absentmindedly wondered what her brother and her sensei would be doing in this situation. Then she wondered what they were doing now.

"Very well then, rule number one," Ibiki said, brining Katoiya back to the present. "Each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question. It's your decision."

"Woah! So what's the catch?" Temari said. "Let's say we don't wanna do it, what happens then?"

"If you choose not to take the tenth question, regardless of your answers to the other nine you'll get a zero. In other words, you fail. And that means of course, both your team mates fail as well."

The entire room burst into murmers. Katoiya looked around the Stone ninja to Miako and then to Kenji. They both looked about as confused as she did. Well, if they failed by choosing not to take the question then of course they were going to take it!

"Not so fast," Ibiki said. "You didn't let me finish...If you do accept the question but answer it incorrectly you will not only fail, you will be barred from taking the Chunin Exam ever again!"

What? That was an awful choice! Either opt out of the question and fail your entire team, but be able to take it again the next time around, or take it but risk staying genin for the rest of their lives!

"Hey, that's bull man!" Kiba yelled out. "That's ridiculous! What kind of bogus rule is that? There's lots of people here who have taken the test before!"

Ibiki just chuckled. Then it turned to outright laughing. "I guess you're just unlucky...I wasn't making the rules before. But I am now. Of course if you don't want to take it you don't have to. If you're not feeling confident then by all means skip it. You can come back and try again next year." He chuckled again.

Well this was great. If any one person from the team decided not to take the question then they would all fail. And then if she were to give the wrong answer then she would never get to become a chunin!

But she couldn't do that to her team mates. Even if it terrified her, even if she remained a genin for life she would have to take the question for the sake of her friends.

It was a good thing that they couldn't hear her inner babbling or thy would try to talk her out of it. Well, Kenji would anyway; Miako could go that way, but he might also try to convince her to face her fears and take the question. Kenji would tell her that it was okay and that they could all take it the next time. Regardless, the boys would have a huge arguement and she would be guilt tripped into following one of them.

"Now then, if you're ready," Ibiki said, bringing Katoiya back from her thoughts, "the tenth and final question! Those who don't want to take it raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go."

Katoiya looked nervously around the stone ninja to Miako. He looked sternly back at her and shook his head. She nodded back, looking as determined as she could.

Then she turned back to find Kenji. There were a lot of very nervous and very determined genin in between. But Kenji just sat there meditating. She could tell because his eyes were gently closed, his hands were resing palm up on the table, and just because of the way he was breathing.

Then he slowly opened his eyes and stared blankly at her. She smiled softly at him. He already knew everything that had gone through her head and since he showed no emotion to her, it meant that he wasn't going to push her into a decision. He warmly smirked back before letting his eyes slide shut again. She turned back around and sighed to herself.

That's about when the first kid raised his hand. He and his team failed and he was apologizing to them every second. Then another raised his hand, and another, and another. They were dropping like flies! There was only a small fraction left in the room compared to those that had started!

And then, when it seemed that no one else was going to do it, Naruto's hand shakily rose into the air. Katoiya was shocked. He seemed so confident when she had first met him. It was actually kind of sad that he didn't think that he could do it. She stared down dejectedly at her table. Then she nearly jumped out of her seat when Naruto slammed his hand down on his table.

"Don't underestimate me!" he yelled at Ibiki. "I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want! You guys aren't gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life!" Everyone stared as he stood up and glared at the main proctor. "I'll stil be Hokage someday!"

Ibiki just stared at him. All he did was sit back down with his arms crossed defiantly across his chest.

It was strange, but Katoiya felt a surge of determination go through her. It was easy to see that it had affected the rest of the room as well. That Naruto Uzumaki was something else...He was a clutz and as dense as a person could be, but the kid had guts. And there was something about his one track mind and that never give up attitude that had her rooting for him.

She pushed her chair back and stood as well. "I'm with Naruto! I might not be ready for this question and hell if I'm not scared out of my mind that I'll never advance farther in rank than a genin, but I'm staying! Even if I lose a part of my future, you'll never take away my strength!" she said.

The rest of the room turned to look at her. Even Kenji had been utterly shocked out of his meditation. She might have been outgoing, but this was more than she had ever acted out before. She stood firm.

"This decision is one that could change your life," Ibiki said. "If for any reason you would rather quit now's your last chance."

"No way, I never go back on my word! That's the way of the ninja!" Naruto said.

Everyone in the room was staring at Ibiki, determined smirks on their faces. Katoiya's and Naruto's outbursts had inspired them. Ibiki looked around the room and nodded to the other proctors. Then he looked foreward again.

"Well then, I admire your determination if nothing else," he said. "For those of you remaining there's only one thing left to do. And that's for me to tell you...that you've all passed the first exam!"

Everyone was silent.

Sakura dropped her pencil and jumped up. "Hold on! What just happened? What do you mean we passed? Where's the tenth question?" she yelled.

Ibiki chuckled and smiled for the first time since he had arrived. "There never was one! Not a written one at least! Actually, your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question," he said.

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

"Wait a second!" Temari yelled. "So the other nine questions you gave us were just a wast of time, is that what you're saying?"

"No, no, not at all," Ibiki explained. "Quite the opposite. The first nine questions had an important overriding purpose: to test your ability to surreptitiously gather strategic intelligence under the most adverse circumstances."

"Oh, well that clears up everything," Temari replied sarcastically.

"Let me explain," Ibiki said. "You see, my objective was to test you not only as individuals, but as a team. And on how well you function as a part of that team. That's why the test was scored on a team basis. So you'd know that everything you did or failed to do would directly affect your team mates. I wanted to see how you would handle the pressure."

Naruto nodded his agreement. "Yeah, I figured it was something like that. That's why I kept my cool," he said.

"The first nine questions on the test were difficult," Ibiki continued. "In fact, as you may have realized too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. I imagine that most of you quickly came to that conclusion. That you'd have to cheat if you had any chance of passing. The fact is, the test was designed to encourage ceating. It almost demanded it. Of course it would have done you little good unless you had someone to cheat from. So I disguised two chunin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you."

The two chunin waved as he said this. Naruto laughed and threw his hands behind his head. "Oh come on! I wasn't fooled for a second! You'd have to be a complete doufus not to see it!" he said. "Isn't that right Hinata?"

Ibiki continued his lecture. "Those who were caught at it failed," he said. "Better not to cheat, then to cheat clumsily."

As he spoke he removed his dewrag. It was so shocking! His head was riddled with scars and puncture wounds! What this man must have gone through for the sake of gathering knowledge. Katoiya stared at him, but he continued his lesson now as a part of it.

"Information; it can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How well you gather intelligence can determine whether a mission's a failure or success. There'll be times you'll have to risk your life to get it!"

"Man, what a mess!" Sasuke whispered. "Scars and puncture wounds, burn marks. What he must have endured."

"Of course you must always consider the source of your information," Ibiki said, putting the dewrag back on. "Intelligence gathered from an enemy is not necessarily acurate. Always bare this in mind. Disinformation can be worse than no information at all. It can lead to the death of comrades or the loss of a village. That's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence; cheat in order to survive! And that's why those who weren't good enough at it were weeded out, leaving the rest of you."

"Okay," Temari said. "But I'm still not getting what the tenth quesion thing is all about."

"You're not?" Ibiki asked. "The tenth question was the main point of the whole exam. Surely you see that."

"Uh, sure! But explain it anyway," Sakura said.

"As I said before," Ibiki said, "the goal was to test you not only as individuals, but as part of a squad. The final question gave you two choices, both difficult. You could coose to play it safe and skip the question, knowing that both you and your team mates would be failed. Or you could try and answer it knowing if you got it wrong you would lose your chance of ever being chunin. It was a no win situation. But just the sort chunin have to face almost every day.

"For example, let me give you a hypothetical mission: to steal a document from an enemy stronghold. You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has or how heavily armed they are. Furthermore you have reason to believe that the enemy expects you. That you might very well be walking blindly into a trap.

"Now do you have the option of taking a pass on this insane mission? Of saying 'my comrades and I would rather live to fight another day'? Can you choose to avoid danger? No! There will be many missions that will seem almost suicidal if you think about it, but you do not think about it. You think only of the goal and of achieving it through courage and disipline.

"These are the qualities required of a chunin squad leader. Those who choose the safer of two paths, those whose determination falters in the face of adversity, those who would put their comrades lives in jeopardy by worrying about their own, those who would save their own necks at the price of sacred honor will never be able to call themselves chunin! At least as long as I'm here!

"As for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the ten questions I put to you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step. You have passed through the first gate. I hereby declare this part of the Chunin Selection Exam completed! There's nothing left but to wish you all good luck."

"Alright!" Naruto yelled. "We did it! That's one down!"

"Yes!" Miako yelled, jumping up from his seat and grabbing Katoiya's hand. They pumped a dual fist in the air together. Kenji just laughed, though he was genuinely happy. They were all celebrating just as much as Naruto was.

Then something burst through the window, halting their celebrations. Katoiya immediately let go of Miako's hand and drew her sword. Kenji had his senbon out as well. Miako fell back in shock in an attempt to avoid the glass shrapnel. The bundle of fabric unfurled and a woman jumped out of it.

"Is this part of the test?" Naruto asked in shock.

"Heads up boys and girls!" the woman said. "This is no time to be celebrating! I'll be your next proctor: Anko Mitarashi. Ready for the second test? Good! Then let's go! Follow me!"

Katoiya slowly resheathed her sword and Kenji put away his senbon as everyone stared blankly at the new proctor. She was wearing a fishnet suit with the legs cut off at the mid thigh. She had an orange skirt, shin guards, and a light brown trench coat. She was also wearing some kind of necklace and her purple hair was pulled up in a mix between a messy ponytail and and bun, sending the short locks flying upward in every direction. And by the way she was talking and acting it was hard to tell if she was trying to be a drill sergent or a cheerleader.

Ibiki then stepped half way out from behind the sign she threw out. "You're early. Again," he said.

She looked a little embarrassed, but recovered quickly. "How many are there," she asked Ibiki. "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? You're test was too easy! You must be getting soft!"

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year," he said.

"Hm," Anko said, looking back at the small crowd. Well, it was about seventy people, but that was small compared to the original number!

"They sure don't look it," Anko finished. "Trust me, before I'm done with them more than half will be eliminated."

"Huh?" Sakura said nervously. "More than half? Really?"

"Heh, this is gonna be fun..." Anko said menacingly. "All right, you maggots have had it easy so far but, things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning! I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."

The teams all shuffled out. Katoiya was going to go see Naruto and talk to him about that ramen he had promised, but Miako grabbed her arm and pulled her away to join Kenji.

"I can't believe it! We passed!" he said.

"It's only the first exam Miako," Kenji said. "And I thought you were the one that said this was gonna be easy?"

"It was!" Miako retorted. "I got every question right and I didn't even have to think about staying for the tenth one!"

"Katoiya and I did all of the work! You just sat there and waited!" Kenji said.

"By the way Kenji," Katoiya said, trying to diffuse the situation before the playful remarks got Miako mad, "how exactly did you do that to the pipes?"

"It was pretty simple actually," he said. "There was this bug that kept flying around me so when I swatted at it, I sent out one of my miniature, chakra infused senbon from the springs hidden in my sleeves. It flew straight into the pipe I aimed at and the chakra pulled the steam out. They didn't even notice."

"Dude, you are a genius," Miako said.

"Well, I try," Kenji replied.

"Come on guys! Let's go tell Hanari sensei and Masahiko that we passed the first test!" Katoiya said, starting down the hall. The boys ran to catch up to her and the three ran out into the sun.


End file.
